Our Lady of Infidelity by Jackie Parker

Author:Jackie Parker
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Arcade Publishing
Published: 2013-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 27

He is going to disappoint them, Walt thinks. He is late beyond help now. He will make the third inning if he leaves right now. If he speeds. And he is a mess, wearing a blue-blotched tee shirt he keeps in the office to use as a rag, dirty chinos; he will have no time to change if he wants to get to the Fullerton Stadium. He has missed his son’s opening pitch. He stands with his back to the counter having told Josefina all he can about Luz, but his words don’t begin to explain what has happened and, anyway, she does not believe them. She has turned her relentless gaze upon him, her relentless questions. She has stupefied Zoe to silence. She has caused even Bobbie to withhold her opinion. There they sit on his sofa, Zoe dozing, Bobbie leaning forward, feet planted, head cocked, taking in every word.

“But what happened?” Josefina demands of him. “What was it, this sweet place? I don’t understand.”

What can Walt say that will make sense to this woman? He throws up his hands.

Josefina turns back to Luz. “You think this sweet place comes from the Virgin?”

“Maybe,” Luz says. “Maybe She sends it. I don’t know.”

Josefina looks up to the ceiling for patience, the corrugated tiles, very ugly, she thinks, very cheap. Walt can do better than this.

“Luz spoke Our Lady’s name on the sidewalk?”

Walt hesitates. “Not exactly. She did say there had been a voice. Isn’t that right, Luz, do you remember you told me something called you?”

“You see this girl?” Josefina accuses Father Bill. “You see what this is again?”

Father Bill, leaning against the freezer case, a safe distance. He nods, tries to rise from his bliss, but it hangs on to him like a virus. The truth is, he’s so grateful that Luz is herself she can say anything and he won’t be fazed. As long as she does not fall into rapture, as long as Josefina is spared this.

“Come here, Luz. You have crumbs on your face.” Josefina reaches into her pocket for a tissue and spits on it, wipes her daughter’s face. “So that is why you kneel for two hours like a penitent? Our Lady calls you to run with the traffic? After all I have been through with you since the spring, you are still running to Her?”

“I didn’t run. I told you it was the feet.”

“The feet don’t decide for the body. The brain tells the feet!”

“You never believe me!” Luz says.

“Who can believe you with that dirty face? Everyone knows you are lying.”

How much easier if Luz had seen Our Lady today, Walt thinks. How much easier if he’d seen the Virgin flashing across Luz’s face. He could call it a holy appearance—a vision. Our Lady of Infidelity. Dump the whole thing on Father Bill. Instead, he is stuck with the mystery of those nameless holy faces. Stuck with the mystery of Luz, with Luz’s feet, which he may well have seen, or not seen, they were moving so fast they could hardly be seen, not this morning but two weeks ago.

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